British Columbia has made some changes to some of its bulletins on the Provincial Sales Tax (“PST”) in an effort to clarify the Consumer Taxation Branch’s interpretation of existing legislation. Furthermore, the following bulletins have some minor changes to the listings of taxable or exempt items.
The bulletin addressed to farmers, Bulletin PST-101, makes an important statement for all suppliers. Under the section entitled “Claiming Exemptions”, suppliers are warned that in a case where a customer is provided an exemption, the supplier may be subject to an assessment if they had reason to believe that the customer was not entitled to the exemption. The formula to be used for the calculation of depreciated value with respect to goods that have had a change in use has been added to this bulletin as well as to Bulletin PST-102, Commercial Farmers. In addition, both these bulletins include minor changes to their list of exempt items as a result of recent changes to the regulations. Finally, reference is made to the respective application forms that are now available for requesting a refund of PST.
Bulletin PST-207, Medical Supplies and Equipment, now details information about refunds available for medical equipment including a reference made to the application form FIN 355/MEC. Some minor changes were made to the wording explaining exempt and taxable products. References to the availability of the Casual Remittance Form (FIN 405) were changed to be applicable to those who do not have a PST number in comparison to the previous version which mentioned those who had not yet registered or not yet received their PST number. Information concerning containers, packaging materials and promotional materials was expanded. In addition, a section on bundled sales was added to this bulletin containing some information previously provided under the subtitle Bonus Items.
In Bulletin PST-126, Photographers, Videographers and Photofinishers, a minor change was made to clarify the first of two criteria necessary in order for the supply of an intangible video to be exempt of PST. Videos (or the right to access a video) provided in an intangible format, delivered via the internet, by email, FTP, download or other means, are exempt of PST provided the criteria are met.